Event teaches children about international culture

Friday

Jan 18, 2013 at 12:01 AM

NORTHPORT | The Kentuck Art Center hopes to help kids experience different cultures without even leaving Tuscaloosa.

By Lydia Seabol AvantStaff Writer

NORTHPORT | The Kentuck Art Center hopes to help kids experience different cultures without even leaving Tuscaloosa. The arts organization will sponsor a monthly “Kentuck for Kids” event, which will focus on the arts and culture of other countries. Starting Saturday, children will be able to participate in hands-on activities, including crafts, that are connected to other countries.They’ll receive pretend “passports” with their picture and activities to mark each event they attend.“We decided that an international series would teach children about different cultures and the arts used in different cultures, but it would also introduce Kentuck to people who don’t normally participate in Kentuck,” said Shweta Gamble, executive director of Kentuck. This Saturday, from noon to 3 p.m. at Kentuck’s Georgine Clarke Building, the “Kentuck for Kids” event will focus on Japan. Kids will make origami and can make suminagashi, which is a form of Japanese ink marbling. Children will learn about haiku poems and write their own. The Japanese American Society of Alabama will also participate and bring “Japan in a suitcase,” which includes toys and different information about Japan, items that the kids can touch. There will also be karate demonstrations at 12:30 pm. Saturday, and the Tuscaloosa Public Library will have a reading list of Japanese-themed children’s books in case kids want to explore the culture more at home. It is the first time that Kentuck has undertaken an ongoing event for kids with an international focus, said Michaela Lewellyn, program manager for Kentuck. “When we first started the a la cARTe event, it had an international focus, but this is more geared toward children,” Lewellyn said. “We’ve never done anything this intricate before.” The Kentuck for Kids events will be free to the public and held on the third Saturday of every month at the Kentuck Art Center in downtown Northport. The event is made possible through a grant from the Arts and Humanities Council of Tuscaloosa. In February, the country of focus will be Ghana. Other countries to be focused on in later months include Australia, Israel, Germany and India. For more information, go to www.Kentuck.org.